Gold hit a new peak of $1,282.75 an ounce today, boosted by demand from investors looking for a safe haven amid continuing uncertainty over the outlook for the world economy.

Here are some key dates in gold's trading history since the early 1970s:

August 1971 – US president Richard Nixon takes the dollar off the gold standard, which had been in place with minor modifications since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 and fixed the conversion rate for one Troy ounce of gold at $35.

August 1972 – The US devalues the dollar to $38 an ounce of gold.

January 1980 – Gold hits a record high of $850 an ounce, as investors pile into bullion prompted by high inflation due to strong oil prices, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution.

August 1999 – Gold falls to a low of $251.70 on worries about central banks reducing their gold reserves and mining companies selling gold in forward markets to protect against falling prices.

October 1999 – Gold reaches a two-year high at $338 following an agreement to limit gold sales by 15 European central banks.

February 2003 – Gold soars on safe-haven buying in the run-up to war with Iraq.